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Episode 325: The Offseason’s First Listener Emails
Date November 8, 2013 Summary Ben and Sam answer listener emails about pitcher hitting, the Phillies’ new analyst, Scott Boras’ use of stats, and more. Topics * How much could pitchers improve at hitting? * Philadelphia Phillies' use of analytics * Scott Boras & traditional stats * Two way substitutions * Internet writers taking front office jobs Intro Built to Spill, "Time Trap" Banter Ben went to a Built to Spill concert, one of Sam's favorite bands. Email Questions * Annie: "My question regards National League pitchers and hitting. I've always sort of wondered why starting pitchers don't work on hitting more. It seems like these guys, many of whom hit regularly at least through college, would be able to contribute significantly more than they presently do if they were focusing on hitting. It also seems like a team that had its pitchers work on hitting better would stand to gain quite a bit from it. I assume the main reason for restricting them is just that having them out there on the bases and running around increases their risk of injury and teams value them too highly to take that risk, but correct me if I'm wrong. I guess the first part of the question is, do you think any team would ever start encouraging its pitchers to focus extra on hitting with the goal of them becoming hitters, at least on part with say the average NL middle infielder? Or do you think any pitcher, say Gerrit Cole, would be allowed to take it into his own hands to do this. It seems to me that just not having the ninth spot in your order be an automatic out could make a significant different in a game. The second part is how much better would a pitcher have to get at hitting to override team's fears about increased injury risk?" * Mark: "The Phillies just hired an analytics guy...doesn't read the rest of the question, but it is to gauge their opinion on this move." * John: "On the most recent Behind the Dish podcast Keith Law interviews Scott Boras on some of his top free agent clients (Ellsbury, Choo, Drew, Morales). For all of them he quoted classic stats and seemed to specifically focus on RBI totals and Keith sat there silently. I found this bizarre. This is a conversation between two experienced industry insiders who both know full well that GMs are not evaluating Morales based on his RBI totals. What's the deal?" * James: "What if baseball allowed two-way substitution, allowing a player who had left the game to return?" * Chris: "Listening to the Colin Wyers send off show last week it occurred to me to ask: of all the former internet scribes who have taken MLB front office positions over the past few years, who is likeliest to write a Ball Four style expose of that side of the business someday, or will they all be precluded from doing to via confidentiality agreements?" Notes * In 2013 National League pitchers had a .341 OPS. American League pitchers had a .224 OPS. * The Phillies hired someone from MLB Labor Relations who had worked on arbitration cases. * How much longer could a team hold out from utilizing analytics in their front office and player development? * Would two way substitutions increase or decrease roster sizes? * The podcast is ending the week on a multiple of five. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 325: The Offseason’s First Listener Emails * Phillies Hire The Analytics Guy They're Going to Ignore by John Stolnis Category:Email Episodes Category:Episodes